Al Iannazzone of Newsday reports that the Knicks waived Bill Walker and signed Dan Gadzuric on Friday. Gadzuric, the 6'11", 245 pound center, is en route to Cleveland to join the Knicks for their game against the Cavaliers.

The loss of Walker doesn't hurt New York. He is a shooting guard/small forward who shoots a low percentage and makes poor decisions with the ball. That is the only area where New York actually has too much depth, even accounting for injuries.

In Gadzuric, the Knicks have got insurance in case Jared Jeffries, the team's defensive stopper and rebounder off the bench, is unable to recover well enough from his knee injury to spell their invaluable, increasingly exhausted center Tyson Chandler.

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Both play solid defense, though Jeffries is a better defender than Gadzuric. Both can rebound the ball quite well. And neither one can finish all that well, despite their height and athleticism.

But having Gadzuric means that the Knicks can return Josh Harrellson to his more effective position of backing up Amar'e Stoudemire, who returns tonight, at the power forward position.

The team will no longer be forced to, for example, put lineups on the floor with Carmelo Anthony or Steve Novak as the nominal center. And they won't have to suffer through a complete collapse of the team's interior defense and rebounding every time Tyson Chandler gets into foul trouble or goes off for a breather.